The 5 spookiest things about not having life insurance

The scary season is upon us, and that means it’s a good time to ponder the scariest thing of them all: Life without term life insurance. (Cue thundercrack and lightning, followed by a haunting organ melody… played by a skeleton, laughing maniacally.)

To show you what we mean, we put together the five scariest things about not having life insurance. So sit down, take a break from spreading fake spider webs, nibble on some fun sized Krackels, and enter our house of horrors, but be warned: You might not want to read this in the dark..

1. You’re missing out on pricing so good it’s scary

Some call this the season of the witch. Well, our actuaries aren’t actually witches (or warlocks), but they have concocted a secret sauce worthy of a witches’ brew. That secret sauce informs our recently updated pricing, which means new customers in 45 states pay a lower rate for dependable term life insurance (and that product was already pretty darn affordable in the first place).

That product, of course, is medically underwritten term life insurance. Here’s how it works: You determine how much coverage you need, and for how many years you need it. (Start with an online life insurance calculator; Haven Term is available in terms of 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years.) Get a quote. Take a convenient (and relatively painless) medical exam to assess your overall level of health. If approved, your insurer offers you a monthly rate for the life of your term, and your coverage amount.

Then, you pay that rate (called a “premium”) every month for the life of the term. In exchange, if something happens to you, your insurer will pay your loved ones (or “beneficiaries”) a death benefit equal to the amount of coverage you purchased — a lump sum of untaxed money that can be used toward anything from funeral expenses to mortgage payments to tuition.

Here are some sample monthly premium rates for a Haven Term policy, issued by MassMutual or its subsidiary, C.M. Life, for people in good and excellent health. The actual cost of your life insurance policy will depend on your age and health, as well as the term length and coverage amount you choose.

Quotes for term life insurance

Estimate based on pricing for eligible Haven Term applicants in excellent health. Pricing differences will vary based on ages, health status, coverage amount and term length. These prices do not reflect the rates for applicants in DE, FL, ND, NY and SD.

Get a quote for medically underwritten term life insurance.

Tempting, right? And it’s downright blood-curdling to think you would go without it. Maybe those actuaries are witches after all…

2. You won’t get our spook-tacular rider, Haven Life Plus

Fitness and health. Getting your important records in order. Long-term financial protection. These things take time and money. It can be, frankly, overwhelming. And no one likes to think about their own creeping mortality, not even on Halloween.

That’s why we created Haven Life Plus, a rider attached to the Haven Term policy that gives eligible customers access to a suite of bonus features available at no additional cost. Bonus features like a no-cost subscription to Aaptiv, a fitness app with workouts, guided meditations, and more — a $99 annual value. And an unlimited jet lag plan from Timeshifter, an app used by NASA, and a $24.99 value. And no-cost online trust and will services from Trust & Will, which normally cost up to $699. Secure online document storage from LifeSite, which typically sets you back $80 a year. And not to be overlooked, a 15% discount on any single service from CVS MinuteClinic, including telehealth, a chain of walk-in clinics with more than 1,000 locations.

We can’t guarantee that taking advantage of Haven Life Plus will ward away the Grim Reaper. But it chills our spines to imagine you going through life without it.

3. You’re getting older and less healthy, day by day, week by week, year by year, decade by decade …

You know that famous optical illusion, where if you look at it one way, it’s a young maiden, and if you look at it another way, it’s an old witch? Well, we hate to say it, but you’re growing less like the former and more like the latter every day. (If it’s any consolation, so are we.) It’s terrifying. So it’s important to recognize that the best time to buy term life insurance is when you’re young and healthy, so you lock in the best rates.

Which reminds us: Did you know Haven Life term life insurance premiums are “level premiums.” That means the premium you pay for the first month is the same amount you’ll pay for the 360th month (for a 30-year policy). For most people, waiting means paying a higher premium for the same coverage amount. Taking that chance strikes us as nightmarish.

4. The debt monster won’t slay itself

From student debt and credit debt to mortgages, the average American has more than $90,000 in debt, according to recent research by Experian. That’s hair-raising. And if you die before you pay it off, that debt could become an unwanted gift to your loved ones — your partner or your children might be saddled with the responsibility for paying it off.

Life insurance is a way to help protect against that. Say you are The Average American, and you owe exactly $90,000 in credit card debt on a joint account you share with your spouse. If you have, say, a 20-year policy worth $600,000 — which is true of the average Haven Life customer — and you die five years into that policy, your loved ones will receive a $600,000 lump sum, which can be used to pay off debt that your spouse might be responsible for. (Indeed, they might have to pay off that debt before receiving some of your other assets.) They’ll also have $510,000 left over to offset the cost of losing your income, to help pay off the mortgage and to pay the cost of your funeral (an average of $7,640, according to a recent study).

5. You’re leaving your loved ones at risk

More than anything, term life insurance is about peace of mind. For less than what you spend on streaming television services, you can provide decades of coverage in case the worst should happen to you. We don’t believe in scare tactics — well, aside from dressing up like Michael Myers to hand out Hallween candy — but we do want you to consider how your family would pay for the expenses above in the event of your death. If you died without the financial protection of life insurance, your family would be on the hook for a host of expenses, potentially without the money to pay for them. Scary, right?

The good news is you can apply for affordable term life insurance online in a little more than the time it takes to watch David S. Pumpkins. So get on it. … Any questions?